The association between a history of anxiety or depression and utilization of diagnostic imaging

While prior research shows that mental illness is associated with lower utilization of screening imaging, little is known about how mental illness impacts use of diagnostic imaging, other than for screening. This study explores the association between a history of anxiety or depression in the prior year and utilization of diagnostic imaging.

Commercial and Medicare Advantage health plan claims from 2017 and 2018 from patients with plans from one national organization were extracted. Exclusions were made for patients without continuous plan enrollment. History of anxiety or depression was determined using 2017 claims, and downstream diagnostic imaging was determined using 2018 claims. Univariate associations were assessed with Chi-square tests. A matched sample was created using Coarsened Exact Matching, with history of mental illness serving as the treatment variable. Logistic regressions were used to calculate adjusted odds ratios, before and after matching, controlling for age, sex, urbanicity, local income, comorbidities, claims history, region, and health plan characteristics. Associations between mental illness and chest imaging, neuroimaging, and emergency department imaging were also evaluated.

The sample included 2,381,851 patients before matching. Imaging was significantly more likely for patients with a history of anxiety (71.1% vs. 55.7%, P < .001) and depression (73.2% vs. 55.3%, P < .001). The adjusted odds of any imaging were 1.24 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22-1.26) for patients with a history of anxiety, and 1.43 (CI: 1.41-1.45) for patients with a history of depression before matching, and 1.18 (CI: 1.16-1.20) for a history of anxiety and 1.33 (CI: 1.32-1.35) for a history of depression after matching. Adjusted analyses found significant, positive associations between mental illness and chest imaging, neuroimaging, and emergency department imaging both before and after matching.

In contrast to prior findings on screening, anxiety and depression were associated with greater likelihood of diagnostic imaging within the population studied.